History_of_Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany exists in its current form since 1989, the year of reunification of the socialist German Democratic Republic(GDR) and the western-oriented old Federal Republic of Germany. At the same time, former German territories east of the GDR that were under Polish and Russian control were given to that nations, most noteably Eastern Prussia. The German constitution dates back to 1949, when the Western occupied zones were established as the Federal Republic of Germany.

The first major effort to unite the disparate German kingdoms and territories was headed by Karl the Great who founded his vast empire in 800 AD. His successors divided the Franconian Empire later into eastern and western parts, the western part became France and the western part the first "Reich" (German for empire), with the "Kaiser" (emperor, term is derived from Caesar) as the head of the Holy Roman Empire, which was several hundred years later renamed to Holy Roman Empire of German Nations which was disbanded in 1806 and conquered by Napoleon Bonaparte some years later. After Napoleon's defeat, the German states, which had been relatively independent throughout the First Reich formed the Deutscher Bund, which was a rather loose organisation, especially because the two great rivals, the Austrian empire and the Prussian kingdom did'nt want to give up their power. Under the influence of the Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian kingdom expanded its power greatly and forced Austria to leave the Bund. After the victory of 1871, the German states formed the second Reich, with the Prussian king as the emperor and without Austria. This Reich flourished under the guidance of Bismarck, but after the Kaiser's death, his successor forced him out of office and tried to get colonies in Africa and challenged the British Empire's naval power, which eventually lead to confrontation in the First World War.

After the death of Queen Victoria, the European balance of power became shaky, and the struggling Austrian empire declared war on Serbia after the Austrian successor to the throne was shot in Sarajevo. Germany, which still had an alliance with Austria dating back to Bismarck's sophisticated system of treaties, joined Austria and declared war on France in what it called a strike of prevention. In the course of the war, Germany and its allies, the Austrian empire and the Osman empire slowly but steadily lost. They managed to achieve a victory over the Russian empire which they destabilized by supporting Lenin and his bolshewik movement. After the October revolution, they reached the Peace of Brest-Litowsk which was later aolished by the Treaty of Versailles after various revolts and the capitulation of Germany. The peace treaty was signed in Versailles, the same place where the Second Reich had been founded some 40 years ago. The Kaiser was forced to resign, Germany lost some territories to France and other nations and after revolts from socialists and communists (like the Spartacus uprisings), the Weimar Republic was formed.

After some successful years, the Great Depression came and Germans were still suffering from punitive damages resulting from the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler and his National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP) capitalized on this and on the growing unemployment. They even claimed that the First World War was lost beacause of treason from within (the so-called "Dolchstosslegende"), combined with a harsh racism and antisemitism, he managed to become chancellor in 1933, with the help of monarchists and conservatives like President Hindenburg. In six years, he prepared the country for war and enforced many discriminating laws against Jews and those that weren't of German origin. In 1939, he declared war on Poland, after he claimed German forces had been attacked (the attack was forged by German SS men). Six years later he and his partners, the so-called Axis powers (Italy, Germany, Japan) were defeated by Allied forces (USA, France, Great Britain and the Soviet Union), and half of Europe lay in ruins, millions of people had been killed, the majority of them civilians, like the six million Jews killed in concentration camps and the countless millions of Russians in conquered territories.

After the war, Germany was split into four occupation zones, Eastern territories came under Polish and Soviet control and Austria became a separate state again (it was united with Germany by Hitler). It soon turned out that the four major Allies had vast ideological differences and over the next years, the British, French and US occupied zones were united to form the Federal Republic, while the Soviet occupied zone became the GDR. Germany's capital, Berlin was split and the Western part became an enclave, while the Eastern part became capital again. After the reunification, the capital of the united Germany moved from Bonn (which was the Western capital) to Berlin.